"My husband, Will, and I often stay with my grandmother and her boyfriend, Bill, just to be in the presence of two people so happy in their lives," says Emily Gibson, 26, of Waltham, Mass. "I'm not sure if they feed off us — or we feed off them — but just being around them, you feel how in love they are. And their story is amazing."
That it is. Evelyn McCarthy, 81, and Bill Cranston, 79, are high school sweethearts who reunited 40 years later. After graduation, the two drifted apart. McCarthy married. A year later, Cranston got hitched as well. Then they met again at their 40th Hastings High School reunion, in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. McCarthy confesses she didn't even want to attend, but that changed when she saw Cranston. "I recognized him immediately!" she says. "He never changed. He had that same face, that same smile. He was still a sweet, wonderful man. I grabbed him. He grabbed me and said, 'Take your glasses off so I can see you!'"
At the time of the reunion, Cranston was divorced and McCarthy was separated. At the close of the weekend reunion, McCarthy walked Cranston to his car. Giving her a kiss, he said, "You've got to come and see where I live."
And so the spark was reignited. The reunited sweethearts began writing letters to each other every other day and scheduling regular phone calls. Within a month, McCarthy was ready to take a drive from her home in Yonkers, N.Y., to visit Cranston at his house in Lyme, N.H. "My kids were nudging me, saying, 'You've got to go!'" she says.
McCarthy got in her car and headed to Cranston's 200-year-old home, which sits across from a farm. "The moment I drove up the hill, I just knew," she says. "I had this feeling. This was where I wanted to be."
Cranston wasn't home when McCarthy arrived, but had left the door open. She went inside and waited. When his car pulled in the driveway, she jumped up and ran to the door. "Honey, you're home!" she called, and they both laughed. "We were so nervous! I had a pan of lasagna and we couldn’t even eat. We were lovesick, I guess," she says.
Five years later, McCarthy moved in with Cranston. "The second time at marriage is best," says McCarthy. "There's nothing to worry about, no pressure. You can have a good old time. We just happen to get along, and be stuck together. To me, it's a miracle."
Her granddaughter agrees. "I swear if it wasn't for my grandmother meeting Bill after all these years, she wouldn't be the active, energetic, fun-loving woman she is today. Last month she went sledding in the backyard with us," Gibson says. "Seeing the mutual love she and Bill have, I've learned how to live well, laugh often, and love much."
Gibson says she sees the older couple's love in their everyday rituals. "They do crossword puzzles together nightly," she says. "Sometimes, my grandmother completes it, erases the answers, then hands it to Bill. On Fridays they go antiquing. My grandmother selects pieces for Bill to refurbish. And they plant vegetables together."
Gibson can't stop laughing as she recalls the weekend visit when she and her husband crashed early, exhausted after a day of sightseeing. "But my grandmother and Bill stayed up — to watch NASCAR together. They love it! We want to be that way as a couple, too."
Learning About a Love That Lasts
Erin Tracy, 27, of New York City loves to tell people how her grandparents, Cora and Jack Cooney, met — in the sixth grade. The couple has been married 55 years, raising four children, and becoming the proud grandparents of ten.
Cora transferred to Craneville Elementary School in Dalton, Mass., where Jack was already a student, in sixth grade. He still recalls eyeing the new girl and whispering to his buddy, "Donny, I'll bet you she gives me a valentine." Donny, however, was sure he'd be the recipient.
Then, on February 14, Jack, and Donny, and everyone else in the class got valentines from Cora. But by eighth grade, Jack was walking Cora home Saturday nights after dance class. "That was the big thing then, to have the boy who was sweet on you walk you home," Cora says.
The couple got married at age 22. Now 77, they're still together. What are their secrets to keeping a marriage fresh? One may be the fresh apple pie Cora still bakes for Jack each week. Another may be the way Jack still introduces Cora to new acquaintances as "my bride," to which she sighs, "Oh, Jack."
Through the years, granddaughter Tracy has been soaking in their lessons.
Lasting love, Jack tells her, is about shared goals. "When we got to 25 years of marriage, we said, 'Let's try for 26.' You get to the goal, you keep going. And you and your spouse pick each other up as you go. Oh, and we have a fight once a day," he adds, laughing. "It's important to let each other know what's going on. If you've been a bad boy, you tell the truth."
Another lesson is that the couple that works together, stays together. The Cooneys operate a bed-and-breakfast, Cooney's Irish Acres, in the Berkshire region of Massachusetts. After years spent working hard, scrapping out a living and even borrowing from life-insurance policies to pay for their children's college educations, they have embraced the lifestyle change.
"My grandparents are so amazing," Tracy says. "They are the most in-love couple I've ever met. With the divorce rate so high and dating so willy-nilly these days, it means a lot to me that they've been married so long. Mine is the throwaway generation. Theirs was not. They made sacrifices for each other and made an effort to do things together."
Share Your Stories
When Jack was told how much his and Cora's lasting love has meant to their granddaughter, and how much she's learned from their example, he was taken aback. "Hearing that makes me want to cry. All you want is for your kids and grandkids to do well," he says. "Everyone has stresses and problems. Then you realize they've seen you getting through it all, getting up every morning and doing the best you can — I give all the credit to my wife. She's compassionate. And she's a hugger."
Your grandchildren can learn a lot from your example. They appreciate it when you open up to them and share your stories, when you let them get to know you through your successes and failures, your good times and bad. And hearing your stories may just inspire them to open up to you as well.
Now you can share your own stories with your grandchildren, no matter far away they are, using the Grandparents.com YourVoice.
Elsewhere on Grandparents.com learn more about the importance of telling stories to your family, find tips for telling stories to your grandchildren, and join the discussion about how well your grandchildren know you.
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